Baylor WR Terrance Williams seems good fit for Dolphins

First-round talent has size, speed and led nation in receiving yards

The Miami Dolphins have a wish list, and it includes a big wide receiver with speed.

Baylor’s Terrance Williams, who happens to be a big wide receiver with speed, and first-round skills, has a wish list, too.

“I kind of would like to see LeBron play basketball,” Williams said of Miami Heat superstar forward LeBron James, “because I just kind of want to see what he looks like in person.”

Williams could have plenty of opportunities to do that if he’s drafted by the Dolphins. And more importantly, he could be a good fit.

Williams has the size (6-2, 205) and speed (4.4-second 40-yard dash) to be a legitimate NFL deep threat. He led the nation with 1,832 receiving yards on 97 receptions with 12 touchdowns last season as a senior.

Williams had a reception of at least 25 yards in all 13 games.

He had eight games of 130 or more yards receiving, including 314 yards and two touchdowns in that classic shootout in which Baylor lost to West Virginia, 70-63. He also had 190 yards against Iowa State, 183 yards against Texas, and 175 yards against Texas Tech. All of those, by the way, were road games.

Williams was the best wide receiver at last week’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Al., displaying blazing speed, good hands and an ability to get open, even in the red zone (inside the opponent’s 20-yard line).

But here’s the thing. Williams, who is from Dallas (W.T. White High School), is among the best wide receivers in draft. He might be selected in the first round, where the Dolphins have the No. 12 pick.

There’s a chance he’ll be there for the first of the Dolphins’ two second-round picks (No. 42 overall). But the way it looks now he’ll almost certainly be gone by the time the Dolphins make their other second-round pick (No. 54 overall).

There’s a school of thought the Dolphins need to sign a veteran wide receiver in free agency, someone who can be a difference-maker right now, and also draft a rookie so they can have a young talent to develop alongside quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

“Big kid, very fluid,” he said. “I thought he struggled on Day One and got better every day. And that’s kind of what you want see. It’s a different atmosphere, you’re being coached by a NFL staff, you’re competing against the very best, and you want to see a guy get better and better each day, and that’s what he did.”

Williams comes from good stock. He played a lower-key role at Baylor two seasons ago when quarterback Robert Griffin III favored wide receiver Kendall Wright. Griffin, of course, was selected No. 2 by Washington, and Wright was Tennessee’s first-round pick, going 20th overall.

But Williams still had good numbers as a junior -- 59 receptions for 957 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Skeptics wonder whether Williams can transform his skills from Baylor’s spread offense to a NFL Pro-Style game. But Wright’s success with the Titans as a rookie (64 receptions, 636 yards, 4 TDs) could help ease those fears. Williams hopes his Senior Bowl practices also helped ease some fears in the eyes of NFL scouts and general managers.

Williams thinks he’s the best wide receiver in the draft, and he thinks he proved it last week.

“Yes, I think I am,” he said. “Just from me coming out here and displaying I can stretch the field in a hurry, but also pick up the Pro Style playbook and do it perfectly the first three days. The first time I had a couple of minor mistakes, but then I went back to the room and corrected the stuff. But I didn’t make the same mistakes twice.”

Williams met briefly with Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland and coach Joe Philbin during the Senior Bowl week. He said it “went well.” And he said that happened because of Ireland, who also attended Baylor.

Apparently the Baylor connection made the entire meeting more comfortable.

“He kind of brought that up towards the beginning and he was talking about my background,” Williams said. “But when we were discussing some of the school stuff he knew what I was talking about, and that kind of felt relaxing that he kind of knew what I was talking about so I didn’t have to go into great detail with it.”

Keep tracking Williams through next month’s Combine and pre-draft visits. It's very early in the draft process, but right now it seems putting Williams in a Miami Dolphins uniform could make everyone happy.